Neuromancer Quick Reference
GETTING AROUND IN THE REAL WORLD
While walking through Chiba City, you'll see the world one room at a
time. Many rooms have exits or doorways you can walk through. Exits at the
bottom of the main screen are represented by a black line. Some doors may be
locked or guarded; in this case it is up to you to find out how to get in.
As you cruise through each room, you'll see and talk to other people. You
can control your actions and movement using keyboard commands or a joystick
(more commands later).
The screen is divided into three main areas. The largest section shows
the room itself. In the bottom left corner are the eight command icons. In the
bottom right corner is a special text window used for room descriptions and
other short bits of text. When a conversation is in progress, "word balloons"
will appear above the speaking characters in the room.
JOYSTICK CONTROL
To toggle the joystick on and off, press "J" while holding down the
"open-apple" key. If you have a joystick, you can use it to move a "pointer"
arrow around the screen. Whenever you want to select anything on the screen (a
command icon, a menu option, some softwarez to download) you can just point to
it with the pointer and press the joystick button.
COMMAND ICONS
You use the command icons to perform actions. You can pick an icon by
either pointing to it with the joystick pointer and pressing the joystick
button, or pressing the corresponding key on your keyboard.
The command icons are arranged as in the ---------------
figure table to the right. The table below | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
refers to each icon by number, as shown in the |---|---|---|---|
table to the right; that is, the table that is | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
right next to what you're reading here... ---------------
SOUND CONTROL
To toggle the sound effects on and off, press "S" while holding down the
"open-apple" key". Now here is a list of the command icons and what they do.
KEY ICON DESCRIPTION
--- ---- -----------
1. M MODE Toggles through these display options:
Current amount on credit chip
Time
Date
Constitution level
2. I INVENTORY Displays what you're currently carrying and
lets you operate, discard, or give items, or
erase software in a deck.
3. P PAX Access the PAX system if there's a PAX terminal
in the room.
4. T TALK Talk with another person in the room.
5. S SKILLS Use a skill you have acquired.
6. WALK When using a joystick, puts you back in control
of your movement after performing some other
action. (See Movement Commands)
7. R ROM CONSTRUCT Access your ROM construct abilities (if you
have one).
8. D DISK Save your current game position, load an old
game, pause the game, start a new game, or quit
the game.
MOVEMENT COMMANDS
You can use either the keyboard or a joystick to walk around town. With
the keyboard, you can one step by pressing a direction key once or keep walking
by holding a direction key down. the direction keys are shown below. The
arrow keys will move you immediately from room to room. To walk around with a
joystick, first select the "Walk" command icon. The joystick pointer will
disappear to show that you are walking around. Moving the joystick in the
direction you want to go will then make you walk in that direction. When you
want to select a different command icon, press the joystick button again to
stop walking and get the joystick pointer back.
COMMANDS WITHIN MENUS
Menus may appear throughout the game when you look at lists of items;
prices in a shop or your inventory list, for example. You can select a menu
option with the keyboard, or point to the option with the joystick pointer and
press the joystick button. There are several commands commonly used within
menus:
COMMAND KEY DESCRIPTION
------- --- -----------
EXIT X Leave the current menu
MORE M View more menu options (if available)
OPERATE O Operate an item.
GIVE G Give an item to another person.
DISCARD D Discard an item, permanently.
CONVERSATIONS
In Talk mode (type "T" or select the Talk icon), you can carry on
conversations with other characters in a room through the use of "word
balloons". Word balloons allow you to choose among several respnses or
questions that are appropriate to the situation in that room. When a word
balloon appears over your head, you can see all of your possible responses by
pressing the space bar or pulling back on your joystick after each response is
displayed. When you decide on the proper response, press return or the button
on your joystick. the response you select will be displayed a second time as
you "say" it. After you read a word balloon that you or another character has
"said", press the space bar or joystick button to continue. You can leave a
conversation your character initiated with the "talk" command by pressing the
key.
USING THE PAX
When you operate a PAX machine (by selecting the PAX icon or pressing "P")
the machine will give you three access codes and ask you for the verification
code.
Take the PAX Verification Code Wheel (or a reasonable facsimile thereof)
and align the first access code, found on the outer wheel, with the second
access code, located on the inner wheel. Find the window that corresponds to
the third access code. Type the number found in the window, then press
RETURN. For example, if given the codes Freeside, Comlink, and Holy Joystick,
you would line up the words "Freeside" and "Comlink", and then type the number
in the Holy Joystick window: 512.
Whenever text is displayed on the PAX or a database, you may press the "+"
(plus) key to speed up the text display, or the "-" (minus) key to slow it
down.
THE CYBERSPACE DISPLAY
Cyberspace jacks appear as yellow circles with a red dot in the middle.
The top half of the screen shows the view from your current cyberspace
location. The bottom left corner of the screen is occupied by the cyberspace
command icons. The bottom right corner of the screen contains your EEG
monitor, which gives you a visual representation of your brain wave activity.
Just below the EEG there is a gauge of your cyberdecks shielding, and to the
right of the EEG is a gauge of ICE shielding for when you're in combat with
ICE.
The center of the cyberdeck panel is where information will appear when
needed. At the bottom center of the cyberdeck panel, there are four numbers;
from left to right, these are the cyberspace zone number you're in, your X and
Y coordinates in cyberspace, and the amount of money in your credit chip.
CYBERSPACE ICONS
The cyberspace command icons are arranged as in the figure below.
KEY ICON -------
--- ---- | 1 | 2 |
1. I INVENTORY |---|---|
2. S SKILLS | 3 | 4 |
3. R ROM CONSTRUCT -------
4. D DISK
In cyberspace, the SKILLS, ROM CONSTRUCT, and DISK icons behave just as
they do outside of cyberspace. The INVENTORY icon displays a list of softwarez
in your deck to operate, rather than a list of your items. The MODE, PAX,
TALK, and WALK icons are unavailabe in cyberspace. There are three new
controls: The EXIT button ("X" on the keyboard) exits from cyberspace. The
ERASE button ("E" on the keyboard) will erase a piece of software from your
deck. The "Movement" button, just above the four command icons, is used to
control your movement with the joystick. The "Movement" button is similar to
the "Walk" button in the real world.
original file date stamp: 8/29/1989